52 Weeks of Baking: Goatbread Cookies

Toot! Toot!
That, my friends, is the sound of me tooting my own horn. A few weeks ago I bought some of the amazing goat butter from the folks at Meyenberg and loved it so much that I wanted to use it for everything. I had eaten it on toast, over pasta and on crackers, but at some point I decided, actually make that knew that I had to make shortbread cookies with it. Nevermind the fact that I had never actually made shortbread cookies, nor actually even liked them that much, neither of those things were going to stop me - I was going to make goatbread cookies (aka shortbread cookies made with goat butter)! To see how they turned out (toot! toot! I freaking loved them) and see the recipe that I more-or-less concocted on my own,

Once I decided I was going to make the goatbread cookies (that name sounded best to me), I started pouring through a bunch of cookbooks in order to check out their shortbread cookie recipes. I knew that the goat butter would lend a savory quality, so I knew that I shouldn't add anything like vanilla extract and I didn't want the sugar's sweetness to over-power the goat flavor either. Ultimately I ended up taking a piece from that one (rice flour from Test Kitchen), a piece from this one (temp from Bon Appetit) and just winging it the rest of the way. The bf was worried that all the amazing goat butter was going to be wasted, and to be honest, so was I. However the end result turned out fantastic - although I think that's just a testament to how fantastic the goat butter is. The goatbread cookie was crumbly, but cohesive, had a bit of a sweetness to it, and a nice goaty aftertaste. The recipe is far from perfect, but it's definitely a good launching point. I definitely cannot wait to try more goat butter creations.

Add butter, mix well. I mixed in stand mixer on medium until butter was completely blended and creamy (about 2 minutes via mixer). Note: this can be done by hand also.

Sift flour together.

Slowly (on low speed if using mixer) add flours to butter mixture. I added 1/3 at a time. Scrape sides with spatula as needed.

When flour is fully incoporated you will be left with a sand-textured mixture. Try and form a ball with your hands. If the dough is not holding together, add a few drops of water (I added about 1 tbsp). Do not add too much water. The final result should be barely cohesive.

In a 9" cake pan, lined with parchment paper or well-greased, place dough and spread out as evenly as possible.

Take another 9" cake pan (you may want to grease the bottom) and place it on top of the dough. Apply even pressure to form the dough into an even-sized disk.

Remove dough from pan and place onto baking pan lined with parchment or silpat.

Using a knife and fork, score & design shortbread (I definitely needed some help in this department).

Bake for 50-60 minutes, until edges are lightly browned and top is even golden color.

Remove from oven and let sit on pan for about 10 minutes. Cut into wedges. Note: It is extremely important to cut into wedges before it cools completely. If you wait until it cools, it will crumble.

Serve and savor!

Note: Next time I will completely skip the pan part and try my best with creating an even square by hand. Until I get really concerned with presentation (gotta master flavor first!), I think it was more of an unnecessary mess. However, if you skip this step, make sure that your goatbread has an even thickness - this way you'll ensure even baking throughout.